The Price of Loyalty
by Blackheart214
Summary: Scott Chase once believed in being a loyal American. But when his loyalty to his country brings him only regret he abandons his duty and his country, leaving him starnded in Thailand. How will things change when he joins the Lagoon Company?


**Well here is my second attempt at writing a Black Lagoon fanfiction. I've managed to catch a few episodes of the anime and read a little more of the manga. I've actually taken the time to do research for this story so hopefully it will turn out better than my last one.**

**Black Lagoon is the property of Rei Hiroe**

The city of Roanapur. A city of violence, vice, crime, and bad blood. The city where the good can go bad and the bad become worse. Thieves, murderers, mercenaries, pirates, and various other low-lives all dwell here. The only place in the city were you can see all these kinds of people at once is The Yellow Flag bar. At this place you'll find booze, women, and a gun on every table with a trigger just waiting to be pulled. It's also the place where you can sometimes find the crew of The Black Lagoon.

The crew had just come back from another successful job given to them by the leader of Hotel Moscow, Balalaika. It was a simple pickup job. They had to relieve a freighter of its cargo. The job paid well and went off without a hitch. So to celebrate a job well done, Dutch had decided to reward his crew with a trip to their favorite bar. Dutch and Benny were quietly enjoying their drinks while Rock was talking with Revy as she downed shot after shot of rum.

It seemed everyone was cutting loose tonight. No one wanted to get into a fight, which was usually a rare sight in The Yellow Flag; they just wanted to party and have fun. All except for one person. He wasn't a regular and no one knew who he was. He just sat at a table all by himself with a half-empty bottle of Vodka clutched in his hand and an empty glass right next to it. His head was down and looked as if he was sleeping.

Rock looked back and noticed the man sitting by himself. Revy glanced over at him and turned to see what he was looking at. She noticed the bottle in his hands.

"Looks like someone's fucking depressed" she said barely interested.

"Not too often you see someone _not _having a good time in here" Rock said.

"What- the-fuck-ever" she said as she turned back to the bar and poured herself another shot.

Rock looked at the man for a few more seconds before he too returned to face the bar. Rock didn't notice it but the man had turned his head slightly enough for him to see Rock staring at him before he turned around. The man sighed and lifted his head off the table and put his bottle to his mouth and drank a little more of his liquid poison.

The man looked like he hadn't showered or shaved in weeks. His hair was long and shaggy and greasy. His eyes had rings around them from lack of sleep. His face was covered by a messy beard. His clothes were dirty and ragged like he had been trudging through the jungle for the past few weeks. All in all, he looked like an ordinary bum. The only thing that might have convinced people otherwise were the dog tags around his neck.

For a little while longer the bar stayed peaceful or as peaceful as it could possibly get at The Yellow Flag. Then the peace was broken when the front doors swung open and four men came barging in. They were laughing and shouting obscenities with each other as they made their way in. Anyone could tell that they were all already half past drunk. Any idiot could realize that men who came into a bar already drunk usually were the cause of problems for all involved. They stood at the door, looking for a table to sit at. Every table had a gun on it; in the Yellow Flag a gun is as good as a reservation card. The only table without a piece on it was occupied by the single man holding onto his vodka bottle like it was a lifeline. They're apparent leader smiled at the prospect of roughing someone up. He and his gang made their way to the table to evict it of its current occupant.

The crew of The Black Lagoon heard the men come in and turned around to see what all the commotion was about. The gang of four had just reached the table.

"That poor bastard" Dutch said out sympathy.

"I bet he has no idea what's about to happen to him" Benny added.

"Not at the rate he's been downing that fucking vodka" Revy said with still little interest.

"Well he's in for a pretty rude awakening" Rock said.

The men had circled around the table. The man either seemed too drunk to notice or too drunk to care. Finally, the leader poked him with the barrel of his gun to get his attention.

"You're sitting at our favorite table here buddy" he said with a very obnoxious voice that was slightly slurred from liquor. The man looked up at him but didn't really seem too concerned about the fact that the man before him had a gun as well as three armed friends. He just grinned and looked at him and said "Really? Cause it's my favorite table too" he said with a slur that was much stronger than the thug before him.

He was about to take another sip of his bottle but one of the men surrounding him swiped it from him and proceeded to finish off its contents. Once he was finished he placed it back on the table. The man lifted his body off the table and stared at the guy that drank his bottle.

"Now that ain't nice; I didn't finish that yet" he said with a grin.

"Nice? Do we look like nice guys to you?" one of the thugs laughed.

"No. You look like ugly ass motherfuckers though" he said before bursting out laughing. Revy started snickering at the bar and kept whispering "He's a fucking dead man". Rock just looked on and waited for the beating that the guy was likely to receive.

The four men did get angry at the insult despite the fact that it came from a man who looked to drunk to stand. Their leader seemed to be one most upset and as the man continued in his drunken laughter he received a punch to the face that knocked him out his chair and onto the floor. The leader had ordered his men to hold him up. Two of his men each grabbed one of the man's arms and held him up in front of the leader. He was slamming his fist into his palm getting ready to hit the man again until he noticed the dog tags hanging around the man's neck.

"What's this" he said with a smirk. He reached for the dog tags, intent on taking them and possibly selling them if they were worth anything.

"Don't touch those" the man said suddenly sounding very serious, almost as if he hadn't had any alcohol to drink.

The man just laughed in his face and grabbed the dog tags. Before they could be pulled from the man's neck however, the man suddenly kicked the thug in the groin causing him to double over in pain and fall to the ground. There was laughing from almost everyone who had been watching the exchange. The two thugs holding up the man looked down at their leader clutching his jewels in pain on the floor. The one holding the man's left arm reared his fist back and thrust it at the man's head. The man threw his head backwards and the fist went right past him and collided into the face of the thug holding his right arm. The thug let go of the man's arm and started holding his face in pain. With his right arm now free, the man swung hard into the gut of the thug still holding his left arm. The thug doubled over and used his free arm to hold his stomach. The man then grabbed the thug's head and rammed his knee into the thug's face and a crack was heard signifying that his nose was now broken. The fourth thug that stood behind them the whole time finally registered what was going on and drew his pistol. The man saw this and quickly picked up the empty glass on the table and threw it hard at the thug's face. The glass shattered on impact and a few shards had imbedded into his face causing him to scream in agony. The thug that had received an accidental punch to the face from his companion had finally started to recover from the blow and was also drawing his weapon as he slowly got up. The man noticed and reached for the empty vodka bottle on the table and swung it as hard as he could at the thug's head, effectively knocking him out. The thug that had been hit with the glass raised his gun at the man; though the blood that was flowing freely all over his face was affecting his ability to see. With the now broken bottle still in his hand, the man rushed at the thug and thrust a sharp end of the bottle into his arm causing him to scream again and drop his weapon. The leader, still holding onto his sacred pieces of his anatomy started to get up. The man picked up the gun that the last thug had dropped and aimed it at the leader. The leader looked at the man angrily. He couldn't believe that him and three of his men had just been bested by what they thought was just a drunken bum.

"Get out" the said bum ordered.

The leader much to his chagrin didn't see any other option. He had a gun pointed at him and his men were hurt pretty bad.

"You'll fucking pay for this you son of a bitch!" he shouted at the man. "You're dead! You hear me?! DEAD" he shouted as he ran out of the bar. The two of his men that could still stand dragged their companion out of the bar after their leader.

Everyone in the bar, including The Lagoon crew watched the men run out the bar with their tails between their legs. They were all shocked that a man who just two five minutes ago was crocked out of his mind had managed to beat four armed men.

The man dropped the gun he was holding and turned to the bar. He proceeded to walk towards it but then tripped over his own feet. He started laughing like he was in a drunken stupor again. It was as if his confrontation with the four thugs didn't even happen. He got off the ground and used the table to support his wobbly legs. He then noticed that everyone was staring at him.

"What the fuck are you all lookin' at" he said with the same slur as before as he stumbled over to the bar nearly tripping again. Everyone went back to what they were doing thinking the whole think had been just a fluke.

The man had finally made it to the bar. He sat one stool over from Revy and ordered another bottle. Bao didn't complain. If the man wanted to drink himself into a coma, that was his prerogative. He handed him a bottle of rum and a glass; though he doubted he would even use it.

The man grabbed the bottle, removed the cap, and took a large swig. Dutch noticed the dog tags hanging around his neck and couldn't contain his curiosity.

"Those were quite the moves out there man" he complimented.

"Tch. That was nothin'. Idiots just thought they get away with takin my drink without permission" the man slurred.

"Really? Because it looked like they were after those tags around your neck" Dutch said as he looked away from the man. He was baiting the man. It seemed to work because the man glanced at Dutch and narrowed his eyes.

"So… when did you serve?" Dutch asked, referring to the man's obvious military background. Benny, Revy, and Rock were all listening now. This man had gotten Dutch curious which made them curious as well.

The man didn't speak for a while. He only stared down at the bar counter. Finally he looked up and said "Five months ago" he said quietly without a slur. He then took another long sip from his bottle. It was like he was trying to stay drunk. Dutch could only assume that whatever this man had done during the time he spent in his service could not have been all too pleasant. Especially at the rate he was consuming alcohol. Being a former soldier, he couldn't help but wonder who this man was.

He didn't get to ask because the bar doors swung open again. The man and The Lagoon crew looked back to see the leader of the three thugs from earlier standing in the doorway with at least seven more men. They all had bigger guns then everyone in the bar. Some carried AK-47s or submachine guns. The leader stepped forward and looked towards the bar right at the same man who had beaten him and his men.

"There he is! Shoot 'em!" he ordered his men. They all pointed their weapons towards the bar and fired. Dutch and Benny ran towards the restroom area next to the bar to avoid the bullets while Revy pulled Rock over the bar counter for cover. The man did the same but he reached up to grab his bottle then sat back down to take another sip. All the other patrons in the bar either took refuge in whatever cover they could find or found their way out of the building.

"How can you be drinking at a time like this?!" Rock shouted at the man as the bullets continued to hit Bao's reinforced bar counter.

"I drink whenever the fuck I want to" he said with his slur returning. He took another swig from his bottle. "And right now I want to".

Rock could only look at the man bewildered. He figured it would be pointless to press the matter further and decided to focus on getting out the mess they were currently in.

"Any ideas Revy"?

"How about we fucking kill 'em all" she said with a grin as she pulled out her cutlasses.

"Damn it Revy! Why is it that every time you come here my place gets shot up?" Bao shouted as he gripped his shotgun.

"Why the fuck are you yellin' at me Bao?! It ain't my fault these fuckers are shooting shit up"!

She then looked at the man who was actually responsible for all this.

"Why don't you fucking do something about this?"

"I'm good where I am right now" he said as finished off the bottle and reached up to take another one from the shelf on the wall, when it burst into shards of glass after being hit by a bullet. He sat back against the wall agitated that his drinking was now officially over because of a gun fight.

"Fine" he said in an annoyed tone. "But you gotta get me outta here".

"Whatever. Just shoot 'em" Revy said as blind fired over the bar with one of her cutlasses.

"I don't have a weapon" the man replied as if it were no big deal.

"Are you fucking serious?!" Revy shouted at him in disbelief.

Bao reached into one of the cupboards of the bar and pulled out a simple 9mm pistol.

"Here take this" he said as tossed the gun to the man. The man caught it then eyed it for a few seconds.

"What is this? Your sister's gun?" he asked with a drunken chuckle.

"Shut the hell up and shoot" Bao shouted as he blind fired over the bar.

"Revy! You and Rock ok?" Dutch called from the hallway.

"We're still breathing Dutch" she shouted back.

"Then let's get the hell out here".

"Alright. C'mon Rock we're getting the fuck out of this place".

Revy then got to her feet and started running towards Dutch while shooting at the men. Rock followed closely behind covering his head and the drunk man followed them and shot as he ran too.

Once they were all together they ran out the back entrance to the front where they parked the car. Luckily it was parked right in front of the alley that the back entrance led to. Dutch had learned from experience that anything could happen at The Yellow Flag and it helped to be prepared for a quick getaway. Dutch got in the driver's seat while Benny took the passenger's seat. Rock, Revy, and the drunk got in the back. Dutch put the car in gear and floored it. The shooters realized then that they were getting away and got into the jeeps they had parked in front of the bar and gave chase.

After a few seconds of driving Dutch noticed there was an extra passenger in the car through the rear view mirror.

"Revy what in the hell is HE doing in this car"?!

"She promised to get me out of there" the man said as he pulled out a bottle that he took from the bar before he ran out.

"Why the fuck are you still drinking?!" Revy shouted at him.

"You sure picked a fine time to take a stranger with us… a drunk stranger at that" Benny stated.

"Shut the fuck up Benny!" Revy shouted as she kicked his seat.

"Whatever" Dutch said realizing there was no point in arguing about it. The guy was in the car now and he might as well make the best of it. Besides that same curiosity from before still lingered.

"Hey you! You got a name?" he asked the man.

"It's Chase… Scott Chase. And I don't mean to be a drag but… those guys are shooting at us" he said hardly interested. No one could tell if it was the booze talking or if he was just genuinely not concerned about the current situation.

The men were in fact shooting at them with some pretty decent weapons. The men in the back of the jeeps were firing AKs and submachine guns while the drivers were using pistols whenever they had chance to shoot.

"Well Revy don't just sit there, cover our asses!" Dutch shouted.

"I'm on it" she said as she rolled down the window and shot out at the pursuers.

"What about you Chase? You got a gun?" Dutch asked.

"I do but it's a piece of shit 9mm" he said as he pulled out the gun Bao gave him.

"Just make yourself useful and try to get these guys off us".

Chase grumbled but reached rolled down his window and fired out at the men as well.

It wasn't the best of situations. The Lagoon crew didn't have a lot of ammo with them and they were outmanned and outgunned. There best bet would be to get to the Black Lagoon and make an escape and come back when things cooled down.

Chase had been shooting at the men with his gun. Then he started hearing only clicks as he pulled the trigger. His gun had finally run out of bullets.

"Fuck! I'm out" he shouted. He knew the situation was too good either. They were going to need a decent plan to get out of this one. Revy still kept firing but soon her bullets would run out as well. The situation was giving him a headache… or the booze was; he couldn't tell which.

He decided it was time for another drink. The bottled was halfway to his mouth when an idea hit him. He looked down at his bottle. The idea was good but the fact that he would have to waste his precious liquor was not so good. Still he realized he couldn't drink if he was dead. So he decided to give it a try. He ripped off a piece of his dirty shirt and stuck it in the bottle with some it sticking out.

"Any of you guys got a lighter?" he asked.

"What you wanna smoke now?" Revy asked as she reloaded her cutlasses.

"Something like that" Chase said with a smirk.

Rock saw what he was doing with the bottle and immediately figured out what Chase's plan was. It would definitely help them in losing these guys. He reached around in his pockets for his lighter and handed it to Chase. Chase gave a quick thanks and set the cloth in the bottle on fire.

"Hey big guy! Take the next right turn" he told Dutch.

"Why?" Dutch asked then looked back to see what Chase was holding. A homemade Molotov Cocktail. Dutch figured out what he was thinking and it made him grin. "Hang on" he said as sped up even further.

The turn was coming up. Dutch got ready and Chase prepared to throw the bottle.

Finally turned the steering wheel, hard and now Chase's side was right in the path of their pursuers. Before Dutch took off Chase threw the Cocktail as hard as he could at the jeep on his left. The bottle shattered on impact and the hood and windshield of the jeep burst into flames. The men inside the jeep started shouting in shock and fear. The flames prevented the driver from seeing and he started to swerve on the road. When both jeeps made it to the turn, the one that wasn't in flames made the turn to try and catch the Lagoon crew. The driver of the other jeep however, wasn't able to see the turn so he crashed into the other one hard at full speed. The force made the jeep that wasn't on fire to flip over, causing the people riding in it to hit their heads on the solid concrete and die. The jeep flip flopped on the street a couple more times causing the bodies to be flailed out of the car and become bloody stains on the road. The other jeep didn't fair too well either. The impact of the crash caused the driver and the leader who was in the passenger seat to be sent through the windshield through the flames, causing them to catch on fire. One of the two in the back went flying forward and the shock caused his finger to tense up on the trigger of his AK making it fire at his companion next to him. He twitched a little before dying from the gunshots. The one who fired had crashed head first into the dashboard and broke his neck. Now that their pursuers were dead, the crew of The Black Lagoon managed to get away in one piece.

They headed for the docks to the Black Lagoon. Dutch didn't want to leave Chase alone since he was the one that had got them out that mess alive, despite the fact that it was his fault that they had been chased in the first place. Once they made it to warehouse that they used as there living quarters and place of business, they all got out of the car. Chase was the last one to get out. He looked at the warehouse with interest.

"This is where you guys stay" he asked a little more sober.

"Yep. It's not much but its home" Benny said, thankful that he was still able to see the place after the whole ordeal.

"Sorry about that whole mess" Chase said to them all.

"Don't worry about it. We're all alive" Dutch told him.

"Even though it was your all your fucking fault" Revy whispered but was elbowed by Dutch.

"Well anyway, I better go" he said as he started to walk away.

"You said you served five months ago right?" Dutch asked him. Chase stopped dead in his tracks.

"What branch are you from"?

"… Black Ops" Chased said as he turned around and looked at Dutch.

Dutch could now understand why he was drinking himself so far under the table. Being a vet of war, he knew that sometimes you did things that only alcohol could help you forget. But when you were in Black Ops that was a whole other level. When you were in Black Ops sometimes you had to do horrible things in service of your country. Things that only the heaviest amounts of liquor could cure for a brief period of time.

"Guess that explains the condition we found you in" Dutch stated. Chase nodded his head.

"My last mission didn't end so well. Once it was over I lost trust and faith in America. I threw away my uniform and my weapons and I've been stuck here in Thailand ever since. I only found this place after hitching a ride in the back of truck that was delivering moonshine".

"Why'd you keep the dog tags?" Rock asked.

"They're not mine" he said as he took held some of them in his hands. "They belonged to my squad members" he said sullenly.

Dutch and the others didn't press any further. That was clearly not a cheery topic for him to discuss.

"So what're you going to do now?" Rock asked.

"I honestly don't know. I have no where to go; no country to return to".

"I can understand that feeling" Dutch said sincerely. "You have any idea what you'll do for work"?

"No. I don't know how things work around here".

"Hmm… I think I may have a job for someone like you" Dutch said with a grin.

"What kind of job?" Chased asked eagerly.

"How'd you like to work for our company".

"You serious? What would I have to do"?

"Well we're a "delivery" company of sorts. I run the business. Rock handles our money and negotiations. Benny is our technical expert. And Revy is our muscle" Dutch stated.

"Still we could always use another gun. What I would need you to do is handle the more "physical" aspects of our business with Revy".

"Hmmm…" Chase thought it over. It's not like he had a whole lot of options. Besides he could tell that in this city, it was dog eat dog, and if he wanted to survive his morals would do him no good. And it wasn't like he had anything left to lose.

"I'm in" he said with a smirk.

"Welcome to The Lagoon Company Chase" Dutch said and extended his hand and Chase shook it gratefully.

**Well this is officially the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope it turned out well. So the next chapter will be Chase's first job with The Lagoon Company. Wonder what how he'll do.**

**R&R please, thank you.**


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